Grammys 2013: Drake gets his first taste of Grammy glory as Fun. go home top winners

Grammys 2013: Mumford and Sons, Fun., Black Keys emerge top winners

Mumford & Sons took home the top prize for their album, Babel, at Sunday night’s Grammy Awards, besting The Black Keys, who even the winners said they expected to take home the prize after they rolled to multiple victories early on, and critical darling Jack White, who was also favoured heavily in the category.

“We figured we weren’t going to win anything because The Black Keys have been sweeping up all day, and deservedly so,” lead singer Marcus Mumford said in his acceptance speech.

Canadian Carly Rae Jepsen was topped in the best song category by fun., who were winners all night long as well. Kelly Clarkson took home the award for best pop vocal album, for her effort Stronger.

Gotye, the 32-year-old new Australian superstar, took home the best alternative album for Making Mirrors, best pop duo/group performance and record of the year for Somebody That I Used to Know, at the 55th annual Grammy Awards held Sunday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

In a year when U.S. music sales slipped slightly, album sales were down 1.8% versus 2011, the awards show worked hard to change the music industry’s global image. Hosted for the second year by rapper and television star LL Cool J, the profession’s biggest stars were in attendance, including Rihanna and Chris Brown, Beyoncé and Jay-Z, and Taylor Swift, who picked up the best song written for visual media statue and performed the evening’s opening number, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.

Drake, the former Degrassi star, earned his first Grammy Award for best rap album for Take Care, with the Toronto-raised hip-hop star outdoing Lupe Fiasco and Nas for the honours.

The Black Keys, a two-piece from Akron, Ohio., earned three awards in the rock category: best rock album, rock performance and best rock song.

The biggest selling album of 2012 was 21 by Adele, a record which was released in 2011, and was the biggest selling record of that year, too. In total, there are 81 Grammy Awards presented, although 70 of the statues are handed out at a pre-show ceremony.

These winners included Jimmy Cliff, for the best reggae album; Dr. John, scoring his sixth Grammy for Locked Down, a record produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, and Janis Ian, a folk musician and spoken word poet from New York City, who won the best spoken word Grammy against a very competitive field, including Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton.

The telecast made early news when a memo from U.S. broadcaster CBS to all televised talent was leaked, which advised, in part: “Please be sure that buttocks and female breasts are adequately covered … Please avoid exposing bare fleshy under curves of the buttocks and buttock crack.”

“As you can see, I read the memo,” joked Jennifer Lopez, whose deep, deep v-neck shimmery green gown from 2000 may have partly inspired the dress code, and who then handed the trophy for best pop solo performance to Adele for the song Set Fire to the Rain.

Winners also included Carrie Underwood, for best country song and country solo performance; Beach Boy Brian Wilson, for best historical album; Skrillex, for best dance recording, and Paul McCartney, who won traditional pop vocal album for Kisses on the Bottom, a record of cover tunes, primarily from the 1930s and ’40s.

Mixing genres and veterans with younger artists is always the trick of the evening, and that was reflected in the performances, which included duets between Sir Elton John and Ed Sheeran; Sting, with Bruno Mars and Rihanna; members of the Zac Brown Band, Mumford & Sons, Alabama Shakes and Mavis Staples paying tribute to Levon Helm of The Band, and the most nominated artists, Fun. and Frank Ocean, who each competed in six different categories.

Last year, the Grammys enjoyed their second-best television ratings in the show’s history, as that day’s death of pop star Whitney Houston added behind-the-scenes drama to the telecast. This year, the controversy brewed primarily around Chris Brown, who had fought with Frank Ocean outside a recording studio last month, and was involved in a car crash after being chased by paparazzi on Saturday. Competing against each other for best urban contemporary album, Ocean was deemed the victor. Sitting beside Rihanna, Brown could been seen politely clapping in his chair, while everyone else around him stood to applaud.

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